Two-shot. There were only four B and B's: Octopus, Raven, Wolf, and Mantis. At least...those were the only four that had been sighted. But just because one couldn't see something, didn't mean it wasn't there. Raiden knew that well from dealing with Vamp...and that lesson would make itself known with his newest enemy. Raiden Vs. OC. Set during MGS4.

Hello there :)! I've been wanting to do a Metal Gear story with my own B and B for a long time now. Sooo, this is an action fic with Raiden vs. an OC of mine known as Babbling Lynx. It is set during Snake's South America mission. It's going to be a two-shot story. Please keep in mind that Lynx is a B and B and will thus have the same fate as the others (in other words, don't get attached to her XDDD). Oh, and the cover is a pic I drew of Lynx. Anyway, please enjoy :D!

X

Five years ago, Raiden would have been shocked by the sight. During the Big Shell incident...his fervent heart would have been aghast at the scene before his eyes. Now, however, it did not faze him. This type of thing happened all over the world, every moment of every day. This was normal...this...was war.

War was a part of him. No longer could he remove himself from the field at the end of the day. The Patriots had made sure of that. Now...he was part machine...more battle weapon than man. From his lower jaw down, Raiden's organic body had been removed...replaced. Instead of warm, sensitive flesh...he now had a metal jaw that partially revealed his lower teeth. The rest of his body was a pale grey apparatus, each piece hooked together with the tenacity and brilliance of Dr. Madnar. It was designed so that Raiden could use each limb to his greatest advantage. There were various places were he could attach knives and use them to desecrate his foes. Mechanized super strength was also a plus, enabling him to lift many tons.

In short...Raiden was the perfect war mechanism. But...he wouldn't let himself get used. He hated the thought of being a slave to the will of another...of being used to carry out some purpose that did not burn passionately within the skeleton of his former heart. That task...finding something to believe in...was even harder than it had once been. For now...he didn't believe in much of anything. He was a virtually emotionless soldier...one who could carry out an act without blinking. That was why he was so easily used...and why the carnage he was viewing did not rattle him.

Pushing through the heavy growth of foliage, the cyborg scanned over ruins. He brushed aside his ice blonde bangs, eyes narrowing. It was, or once was, Cove Valley Village. Nestled among the wild rainforests of South America, it consisted of rather primitive yet cozy buildings. With its position among the towering hills and lush trees, the area was made to look darker than other parts of the wilderness. The sun was blocked by plant life, making the dew-drenched air feel noticeably cool.

At one time, the town was probably cheery and well-used. Today...it was a ghost of its former self.

The PMCs had destroyed everything. They had set fires to one of the larger houses, torching it from the entryway to the upper floor. It was still standing...but the sections of its walls that were not crumbling away were black with soot. It looked rather like a gruesome skeleton compared to the other structures.

The other buildings, barns and warehouses of some sort, were relatively untouched. They had clearly been ransacked, but no fire had been set to them. Apparently, the militia hadn't seen the need to burn those. Either that...or they had been deliberately cruel in their choice. A business dwelling could be rebuilt with some simplicity. A home on the other hand...was different. It was filled with memories. Each dent and scar marring the walls brought back moments of one's life...both good and bad. By burning the home...the enemy had not destroyed not only a house...but a haven.

Raiden's metallic jaw clenched. He slowly trod the damp, dark earth, glaring warily. He doubted the PMCs would have gone through the trouble of such a heartless act. Their comrade team, however...the B and B's...were a different matter.

The B and B or Beauty and the Beast corps, was an organization spoken of infamously among the rebel groups. They were the SNAKEHOUND unit...even more dangerous than gun-bearing, nanomachine-enhanced soldiers. Each one was female...rumored to be strikingly beautiful beneath the hideous suits they wore. They had also each been horribly traumatized by war. There were many stories regarding each B and B's origin...and how they had lost their sanity.

As fascinating as the female assassins were...they were also feared. No sanity, no reason, no remorse penetrated their broken minds. Sometimes...they killed just for the sake of it. That was why they were most likely responsible for the burning at Cove Valley...only they would be so unreasonably cruel.

Only four B and B's had been recorded so far. They were Laughing Octopus, Raging Raving, Crying Wolf, and Screaming Mantis. Each was outfitted with a unique mech suit...one without which they could not survive. The suits also gave them unique and terrifying powers. It was rumored that a single one could destroy an entire team of rebels with ease. By the looks of the village...those rumors were true.

Raiden surveyed the vast expanse of land leading to the mountain trail. It was littered with bodies...the corpses of PMCs as well as rebels. Slowly treading through the area, he frowned. He had seen the work of Laughing Octopus, the B and B rumored to be posted in South America, before. In fact, a few of her victims lay near a rundown truck parked next to one of the buildings. They had either been slammed ruthlessly into the ground or impaled by her deadly tentacles. These corpses...were different.

Vicious slash marks marred each one. They had been caused by claws...wicked, razor sharp claws. If Raiden didn't know better, he would have thought they had been killed by some wild animal. He knew better. He also noticed...that there were more dead PMCs than there were rebels. Furthermore...most of the rebels had lost their lives to bullet wounds rather than the terrible talon injuries.

The wounds weren't caused by an animal...and they had mostly targeted the PMCs...so who on earth could it be? The B and B's had been known to occasionally snap and kill whoever was close to them, but that was an infrequent occurrence. This was deliberate...malicious...maybe even planned.

Something beeped in the pocket of Raiden's long, black trench coat. Not taking his silvery blue eyes off the scene before him, he reached a mechanical hand into the clothing. He pulled out a handheld GPS. On its screen was a vast map of the South American terrain. A single white dot moved at a slow pace through the mountain path. That dot...was Solid Snake. His former Big Shell partner had been tracking him, trying to catch up with him. Snake was a good distance ahead...but he still had time. He could stop to investigate whatever had caused this Cove Valley massacre. If he didn't...then Snake might bear the consequences.

Grunting, the cyborg stowed away the GPS. He would meet Snake soon enough. Right now...he had to focus on this ominous mystery.

Raiden started toward the burned building. His insipid eyes flicked from structure to structure, searching for any signs of danger.

"It's quiet..." he thought. "...too quiet."

There was no visible evidence of a threat...yet proof seemed to scream all around him. The seemingly dead town was somehow alive...filled with hidden eyes, watching him.

A chill touched his pallid facial skin. Something was definitely here...hidden...waiting to strike. Nature was never this still. He had learned that much from his tracking lessons under the Alaskan tribal elder. It was afraid...afraid of someone...or something.

With a single internal command, Raiden's nanomachines activated the visor that was attached to his head. Its eye pieces moved into place and he activated their infrared mode. Instantly, the world before him was transformed into a luminescent green. Objects that had previously been too dark to discern grew almost blindingly bright. While this feature was certainly useful...he didn't dare use it for long. The soft but still audible humming noise it made would give his position away if he kept the device active for too long.

Raiden's eyes ran over each dilapidated structure. At first, he saw nothing. Everything was motionless...almost dead-looking. Then...his gaze landed on a building several yards to his left. It was a squat thing with a sturdier door than all the others. Crooked iron bars took residence at each window, making it look almost like a store house that merchants were paranoid about being robbed...or a prison. It could have easily been either or both.

Staring at those barred windows...the cyborg could swear he saw a flicker of movement. He froze. A flicker...was far enough proof. He was well aware of that due to his dealings with Vamp.

Glaring, Raiden stepped slowly toward the building. Its interior was dark...but his night vision allowed him to make out some shapes. He braced a metal hand on the door and gave it a push. It moved quite easily, nearly falling off its hinges. This building had clearly been heavily raided. Either that...or some intense struggle had taken place within its walls.

Glancing around, the latter explanation seemed to Raiden more likely. It was apparently a storage house of some sort with multiple shelves that had been ransacked...or struck during a heated struggle. Covering the walls...were deep slash marks. They mirrored those seen on the corpses outside. Blood smeared some of the walls, intermingling with the scratches. That blood probably belonged to the body of the PMC lying in the center of the room. He still held his M4 in his hand...but it had been useless against whatever killed him.

Suddenly, a sound pierced the palpable silence...a slight shuffling. Raiden's hand instantly shot over his shoulder. He grasped the black handle of his katana, body tense as he waited for whatever was skulking in the shadows.

A cluster of shapes which Raiden had previously mistaken for wreckage...shifted on a shelf on the far wall. He frowned. Either they were disconnected...or whatever tied them together wasn't visible to infrared. The only military operatives he knew of who possessed that type of technology...were the B and B's. But...how was that possible? There were only four B and B's, each posted in a different place. Laughing Octopus was the boss of this area...so who else could be here?

Raiden's clawed fingers tightened around the hilt of his blade. "Who's there?" he growled.

The thing turned. When it was facing him...two, diamond-shaped eye lenses glowed a wicked grayish green in the darkness. The way the thing was positioned now made it a bit more discernable. The parts of it which displayed on infrared were its slender torso, legs, arms, and a bit of its neck. The thing...or rather person...was humanoid. Yet...it was staring at him with eyes that were far less than human.

Motionless ensued for what felt like an eternity. Then...in the blink of an eye...the creature lunged forward. Raiden spun to the side, drawing his katana in the process. He slashed to the side with it, a move he often used to take out the legs of Gekko. The creature leapt over the blade with a nimbleness that no ordinary human possessed. It dashed out the door in a flash of black, grey, and deep green. Fleeing through the sea of its victims, it ducked into the burned house.

Raiden cursed. He pumped his cybernetic legs, racing toward the structure. He couldn't let it get away. If his enemy was a Beauty and the Beast...then she would be after Snake. Snake still had yet to be briefed about the bounty on his head. He would be totally unprepared for them. Snake had protected him when he was uninformed...

"This time, it's my turn," Raiden murmured as he stepped through the singed doorway.

The inside of the house looked even more sinister than the outside. The already dark wood was completely black in some places. Splintered furniture was scattered in a corner. A staircase led up to the second floor, most of which had been burned away. The cyborg scanned the room carefully. The wood walls, floors, and furniture glowed on the visor's night vision mode...but he still saw nothing.

Just because Raiden saw nothing, however…did not mean that he heard nothing. In fact…he heard someone talking…softly…but coherently.

"First I'm going to set some bait inside a nasty trap and wait…when he comes a-sniffing I will snap the trap and close the gate…"

He glowered up at the broken ceiling. It was a woman's voice distorted by something, perhaps a mask of some sort. But why was she talking like that? Raiden stepped slowly across the wooden floor, careful not to tread on any creaky boards. He kept his eyes locked on the ceiling. He could still hear her talking.

"Yesssssss…." She purred from her hiding place. "…the dark's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king…"

Raiden halted, frowning. He was not a literature expert…but he did recognize that quote. It was from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. She had changed the work "play" to "dark" to fit their current situation…but it was the same quote. He wondered if what she said before had been a quote too. If so…

"Why is she babbling?" the warrior thought. "Is she trying to distract me? Or…is it something else? Something…less sane?"

Either way, he had to act.

Raiden listened intently. If he could find where she was standing on the upper floor then he could drive his katana through the boards for a surprise strike. He should be able to figure it out. After all, she was talking to herself.

Following the sound of her contorted voice, Raiden crept deeper into the shadowed building. He kept his gaze locked on the ceiling. Squinting, he strove to see through the uneven cracks of the upstairs floor boards. Most of the gaps revealed nothing but darkness above. However…when he reached the edge of a gaping hole in the wood…he saw something else. Rather than blackness…he could see something that showed up in a light shade of grey on infrared. It had to be her.

"Got you…" the cyborg whispered, allowing a small smile to play on his upper lip. He drew back his sword…ready to drive it through the wood…when he was attacked instead.

A pair of four long blades pierced through the ceiling, heading directly for Raiden's ice blonde head. They glinted wickedly…and were deadly sharp. Grunting, Raiden dodged to the side. He found himself underneath the sizeable hole in the ceiling. Before he could regain his bearings, another set of knives slashed through the air next to his head. They missed his face but grazed the opaque material composing his shoulder blade.

Raiden cursed. He retreated to the left, narrowly evading yet another blade strike through the ceiling. Splinters of wood rained down, catching in his hair. He shook them off and slid behind a soot-covered dresser. Through the brand new gashes in the ceiling, he could hear his enemy laughing, a hideous sound with its multi-toned voice.

"Subtlety set a trap and caught itself…" she giggled, continuing on yet another lengthy ramble.

The cyborg shut off his night vision. Whatever he was dealing with clearly had enhanced senses. He didn't need her using the humming sound of infrared to track him. With a mechanical hiss, the visor slid away, exposing his blue-grey eyes to the cool air. He leaned his head back against the charred furniture and tried to adjust them to the darkness.

He hadn't had much success when his handheld GPS gave an alerting chirrup. Wincing, Raiden fumbled in his pocket for it. He hoped the female attacker hadn't heard the sound. She was still mumbling random sayings on the upper floor…but who knew how advanced her hearing was. Raiden stared at the GPS screen. Snake's white dot was getting close to the power station…and he had no idea of the danger awaiting him.

Before he could fully process the information, something dropped down from the second floor. He couldn't make out her features in the shadows…but he could see the familiar blades at the tips of his foe's fingers. She stood still only three or so yards away, apparently looking for him.

"Crap…" Raiden hissed. He cast a glance at the creature, then at his GPS. There was no choice. He had to warn Snake somehow.

Not waiting to think of a plan, the soldier activated his nanocommunication system. It whistled as it sent a ping to Snake's Codec. Then…a slight click was heard…and Raiden knew that his old friend had answered.

In typical Snake-style, he said nothing, waiting for the one who had contacted him to explain. Even though Raiden was used to that…he said nothing. His eyes stayed frozen on the woman. He breathed into the connection, not wanting his friend to think that he had hung up.

After a few moments, Snake's gravelly voice spoke. "Who is this?" he demanded, sounding wary.

Raiden almost smiled. Almost no warm emotion pierced his icy cold core anymore…however he had to admit that it was agreeable to hear from a companion.

The creature skulked toward the door, away from her quarry. Raiden seized that opportunity to speak. "Snake…"

"…That voice…" the soldier did not gasp, but his tone rose in surprise.

Raiden watched his opponent. She was still moving, about to step into the pale light of the doorway. Then, he would be able to see her…and she would see him. The cyborg slipped around to the concealing side of the dresser. He whispered into his Codec.

"…There's an ambush ahead. Government and PMC troops. You could be shot from anywhere." He braced his hand on the furniture, glancing down at his map. "Watch your surroundings. Look to the distance."

Snake was silent for a moment. His next question was little more than a murmur. "Is this…Jack?"

Raiden's insides clenched. No…he wasn't really. He might still have remnants of Jack's body, Jack's memories, and Jack's mind…but he was a different person now. Gone was the sweltering passion of youth and the stubborn belief that he could have a normal life…a human life. No…he wasn't Jack. The Patriots had taken away what little of Jack remained after the Big Shell incident.

"Jack is dead…" Raiden murmured. It was at that moment…that his mystery foe stepped into the light.

He had been right before. The woman did have a humanoid figure. In spite of that…she was less than human.

Her waist and arms were slender, clothed in a grey jumpsuit material. They had been left unguarded so that she could be more flexibly. Her upper torso was a different story. It was protected by dark green, vest-like armor. The same armor material created for her something that looked like the metal skirts worn by robotic female warriors in science fiction films. She also wore heavy mech boots which were composed of three plates. The plates went from dark green, to gunmetal grey, to black.

The assassin's arms, while unobstructed by armor, had thick black tubing running along them. It seemed to be connected to a medium-sized tank of something attached to her back. Ebony bands kept the tubes from sliding around when she moved. The cylindrical devices stopped at her hands, forming into a delta-like shape. From that structure…protruded the wicked blades. They ran along each of her fingers, looking every bit like a beast's claws.

The most striking thing about the being, however…was the dark green and deep black mask concealing her face. It was hard and angular with triangular structures stretching out from either side of the skull. A jagged mouth with sharp teeth had been cut into the front. It formed into a horrid grin, probably to unnerve and distract opponents. Above that mouth was a dusky upside-down triangle which looked somewhat like a nose. Slender tubes extended from those too. They curved around the back of the helmet and stretched down to connect to the tank. There was something inside that device…perhaps something lethal. All in all…she had the overall appearance of a cat…a lynx perhaps since she had no tail.

Raiden glared determinedly. He was almost certain that his suspicions had been right. This thing…this creature who was obviously not in her right mind…was a fifth B and B. She had never been identified…but she seemed just as dangerous, if not more so than the others. He had to stop her. His friend was not ready to face a B and B yet.

"Snake…" Raiden at last mumbled into the Codec. "…I'm at your side."

"Wait!" Snake called out but it was too late. The cyborg had already ended the Codec call.

X

End of chapter one :). I hoped you liked and please review! Please no flames. I am working on the next chapter and hope to have it up soon. It will contain an explanation about Babbling Lynx's past. Below is an explanation of each quote I used:

"First I'm going to set some bait…" Danny Elfman's "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" from Tim Burton's Nightmare before Chrismtas.

"The play's the thing…" William Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

"Subtlety set a trap and caught itself" Latin proverb.

I DO NOT OWN METAL GEAR, TIM BURTON'S NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, DANNY ELFMAN'S KIDNAP THE SANDY CLAWS, SHAKESPEARE'S HAMLET, OR THE LATIN PROVERB

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.